One Minute | BBH

CHAPTER 1

Chapter 1 :

Your POV:

6 : 01 am.
I was late. One minute late than the usual.
I dragged myself hurriedly to the bathroom.
Same routine. But one minute later.
I ran downstairs to see my mom deep in her thoughts.
Same spot. But I saw it one minute later.

What could one minute change?
Well, it took one minute for my dad to take his decision of leaving us. One minute for him to open the door and slam it behind him without even glancing behind his back. It took one minute , only one minute for everything to turn upside down.

It took one minute for the bus, the 103,  to leave , leaving me behind.
It came once every Monday and I missed it by one minute.
The other days I would ride my bike.
It would be now better if I ran.
And I ran.
I arrived at 7:01  to the classroom.
I sat in the usual spot : beside the window.

Why isn't there a word that is opposite to loneliness? Could it be because people do not realise they're lonely until they die?
How does it feel to be lonely? Probably it hurts. But why didn't I get hurt after the one minute the door slammed behind my dad?
Why didn't I feel lonely when I didn't have friends?
Maybe what I felt wasn't really loneliness. Or maybe the definition I had of it was wrong.
Maybe I believed I wasn't lonely. Even when my dad betrayed us.

_ " What would you ask for if you knew the answer is gonna be yes? "

I was cut in the middle of my thoughts by my seat mate whom I never saw until now, or maybe I just didn't remember him since I'm not the kind of talkative people in school.
The fact that he was wearing the uniform without any name tag was the first thing to catch my attention . Did he loose it? Who knows.
He seemed to be deep in thought while waiting for me, maybe to give him an answer for the question he asked, which I just realised and came back to my senses.

_ " What?" I stared at him  blankly " Why are you asking?"

_ " What would you ask for if you knew the answer is gonna be yes?" He again repeated.

Seems like he prefers to get answers quickly rather that be asked.

_ " I ....."

What would I ask for if I knew the answer is gonna be yes?
What would a normal person ask for if he knew the answer is gonna be yes?
Money? I didn't need that. Even thought my dad left we still had enough money for both me and my mom. I would say more money since my dad left.

My dad. Wouldn't it be way better if I had him back? I'm sure it would be. It took him one minute to decide wherever he will go or no. Wouldn't it take me one minute to make him quit that idea ?
It probably would.

" I want the time to repeat itself."

I didn't even realise I had answered him . Words just slipped from my mouth. It was probably what I needed. If I  could just get back one minute, none of this would happen. None of it.

I looked to the guy, still not acknowledging who he was but neither was I gonna ask for it.
He eyed me with the same curiosity I did.
And then he left,  without even taking a glance behind.

I didn't even bother thinking of his strange behaviour and why he suddenly left the classroom.  I didn't care to be honest.

I then  found myself spacing while looking in the direction of a guy while I was deep in my thoughts.
He was sitting in the raw that was next to the entrance, facing me, his back against the wall, his head down, while his  brown hair covered his eyes and its smooth strands shined under the sun's rays . His uniform , with a name tag as opposed to the other guy a minutes ago , had the hangul characters I read after squinting my eyes hard since he was far away : "박 진영".